A seemingly automatic call of "I'm home!" Echoed through the cold dark hallways of an empty house; that hadn't felt like home in years.
Sighing Jayden shuffled further into the house; kicking off his shoes, hanging up his coat, untying his hair and letting it flopping onto his shoulders.
He wasn't really sure why he still found the need to call that out, it had been years since it had last been answered with anything but silence, and it only served to remind him of the ever circling storm of loneliness that had been ever so slowly building inside his head since his parents had died.
At the thought of his parents Jayden snapped back from where his thoughts had been starting to spiral; rubbing his face to try and get rid of the slight frustration he felt over his own thoughts, and the ever-looming fog of exhaustion and indifference; Jayden finally entered the living room turning the living room light on, briefly getting blinded by the lights, before quickly doing the same in the kitchen.
**^^**
30 minutes later Jayden stepped out of the bathroom, hair wet from just taking a shower, wearing a large t-shirt and boxers, a towel around his shoulders to prevent it from getting wet.
Walking back into the living room he was meet with the noise of both the TV, which was at moment turned onto the news channel, the old radio sitting on the kitchen counter; his parents had loved that old radio practically never let it go silent; that was softly playing music, and finally his roomba that he'd found for cheap at a garage sale about a year or so prior; it had somehow found a way to flip onto its back in the 20 minutes he'd left it alone.
Letting a fond sigh escape his mouth and a slight smile settle on his lips at the familiar sight he walked over to the roomba to help turn it back around.
"Jeez, I can't leave you alone for more than five minutes can I?" he said with a slight laugh, slowly flipping it back around as if to not make it dizzy; before moving into the kitchen to make himself dinner.
All the noises blended together to make one euphonic background sound as Jayden moved around the kitch; only the occasional sound of cupboards being swung open then slammed shut, and the occasional slight clang of utensils or plates, broke through the harmony that had settled over the one person household.
Finally Jayden slumped down on the couch, being careful not to spill the two minute noodles, he had just enough decency to put in a real bowl, onto himself.
Stretching his legs out across the couch, leaning his back on the armrest and then lastly putting a cushion in between his bowl of hot noodles and his legs he finally finally got comfortable enough to tune into what was on the news.
'It's been 6 months since the disappearance of the international star actor and model asher-'
Jayden rolled his eyes as he changed the channel, sure he has to admit that the guy was a good actor and he'd found himself binge watching all of the movie and shows the guy's ever acted in, that wasn't why he'd rolled his eyes, he'd rolled them because this is the third time they'd brought up his disappearance this month and it wasn't even half way through.
He could understand the shock, an internationally famous actor and model going missing from his security tight mansion in the richest part of town, with no trace or clue as to where he'd disappeared to, that was pretty shocking alright; add that to the fact that he was only 23 years old yet, had a huge following and had already starred in multiple big budget films and well someone as high-profile as him going missing without a trace is concerning at the very least.
But it had already been 6 months without a clue to where he could have gone, and Jayden's local news still couldn't stop talking about it despite the fact that there was nothing new to discuss.
Sure the guy had lived in the same city as him but it's not like it's the end of the world, in any case they lived in completely different worlds even if the guy had never gone missing it isn't like they'd ever meet.
*bzzt*
The noise of his phone receiving a notification pulls Jayden from another wave of internal thoughts; moving slightly from his position on the couch he reaches over to grab his phone from the coffee table it had been resting on.
[REMINDER: get food before, forget]
Fuck; he'd forgotten to go shopping.
Checking the time on his phone it read:
[11:28 pm]
Double fuck, unless Jayden wanted to go shopping at the 24 hour convenient store that never seemed to have anything he actually wanted nor needed He'd have to be fucking fast, his closest supermarket closes at 12 and while it may only take 10 minutes to get there on foot if he wasn't rushing, he needed to at very least get his shoes on and maybe grab his hoodie.
Jayden looked down to check himself over and see if he missed anything; 'ah yeah better put some pants on as well'.
Nodding to himself Jayden jumped up, preparing himself for the mad dash out of the house.
**^^**
The rush out of the house took a little longer than Jayden had expected, he had to put the roomba back to it's charging station, (if he hugged and gave that stupid little machine a good night kiss before leaving then no one would know except for him), double and triple check that he had his keys and wallet, (he'd really not like to be locked out of the house again), and struggled for a good solid 2 minutes each, putting on his hoodie and a pair of baggy pants.
Just to nearly forget to put on his shoes before rushing out of the door and locking it behind him.
Still he managed in the end and was casually strolling back home at 12:05 in the morning with two full bags of groceries on both arms.
Carefully maneuvering to not drop his groceries, Jayden pulled out his phone and opened his banking app. He hadn't realized just how little he had in the house until he had gotten into the store. So as a result he now has under a hundred dollars for spending money until at least the middle of next week, the rest he needs to pay his bills.
Just as Jayden was about to distract himself from his money woes with a well needed fanfic binge, a spam notification for a gossip article popped up on his screen making him accidentally tap on the notification and send him to the aforementioned article, what's worse was what the gossip article was about.
[The Luceria Family's biggest business venture just getting started]
Jayden couldn't help but sneer at the article's title.
'Talking about not being pinched for money, a bunch of smart ass bitches the whole lot of them' Jayden thought before scoffing and shoving his phone back into his pocket.
With old frustrations surfacing Jayden stormed off down the road; it was only as he was about to turn the corner onto his street that he stopped to take a breath and calm down
'Just be grateful that he even allowed you to keep the house' with that thought Jayden released the tension that had been forming around his body and stepped for turning around onto his street.
Only for a searing pain to stab him through the gut knocking him to the ground, he looked around in confusion trying to pinpoint where the pain had come from, trying to blink through the sudden brain fog and in coming panic.
Through the shock his hand moved down to where he was in pain.
The feeling of a warm substance coating his hand brought back some of Jayden's clarity as he tried to shift and see what it was that had covered his hand.
Blinking once then twice dumbly staring at his own hand it took about 5 seconds for the brain to catch up.
BLOOD..
BLOOD.. ON HIS HAND
HIS OWN BLOOD